Motor fuel product



Patented Feb. 20, 1940 MOTOR FUEL PRODUCT Thomas H. Rogers and Vanderveer Voorhees, Hammond, Ind., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Gasoline Antioxidant Company, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application August 9, 1937,

Serial No. 158,197

4 Claims.

This invention relates to the stabilization of motor fuels and particularly to the stabilization of cracked gasolines which tend to deteriorate and develop gums.

In particular, the present invention relates to the treatment of highly cracked gasolines or hydrocarbon motor fuel distillates of the type which are normally unstable, particularly with respect to gum formation on storage, andwhich, having an initial anti-knock rating superior to that of straightrun gasoline, tend to deteriorate in antiknock rating.

The tendency of products of this type to develop gum forming constituents, is indicated, for example, by their oxygen absorption induction period, determined, for example, as described in the article by Voorhees and Eisinger in Proceedings of the American Petroleum Institute, section 2-, January 3, 1929, page 170. The oxygen absorption induction period is the period of time for which the rate of absorption of oxygen by a 100 cc. sample of motor fuel-maintained in a liter flask at an elevated temperature of 210-212 F. in an atmosphere of oxygen under about 1.5 to 2 atmospheres pressures remains below 1. cc. per

' minute.

It has been customary to treat motor fuels of the type indicated above with substances such as strong sulphuric acid, fullers earth and the like to remove these gum-forming constituents. Such treatments remove a substantial amount of the unsaturated constituents in the gasoline. Since these unsaturated constituents are partly responsible for the high anti-knock properties of cracked gasoline, it is apparent that such treatment destroys some of the desirable qualities of cracked gasolines.-In addition, these treatments result in a loss in volume of motor fuel.

The object of the present invention is to provide a new class of organic materials that may be added to these gum-forming cracked gasolines, in small amounts, to inhibit or substantially retard the formation of gum therein. The amountof these gum inhibitors employed to stabilize a cracked gasoline will vary with the particular cracked gasoline to be treated but, in general, the amount of the inhibitor used will vary from 0.01

to 0.001%. With some motor fuels, the amount used will be as low as 0.0006%., Even in these smallconcentrations, the.compounds herein disclosed have proven to be very effective as gum inhibitors in cracked gasoline.

Our present invention relates to the use of ortho-, meta-, and para-propyl aminophenols as gum inhibitors for cracked gasolines. In other words, these inhibitors are aminophenols wherein one amino hydrogen has been substituted .by a

propyl group, namely, the iso-propyl or normal propyl radical; The substituted aminophenols having a secondary carbon atom attached to the amino group are particularly effective as inhibitors for gum forming cracked gasoline. In addition, the benzene ring of the compound may be substituted with hydrocarbon radicals such as the methyl, ethyl, propyl and butyl radicals.

To illustrate the effectiveness of the above mentioned compounds, 0.001% of para-iso-propyl-aminophenol was added to a cracked gasoline having an initial induction period of 240 minutes and it .was found that this amount of inhibitor raised the induction period to 590 minutes. If desired, these inhibitors may be dissolved in any suitable solvent before being added to the gum-forming cracked gasoline.

In addition to using the compounds indicated above as gum inhibitors in cracked gasoline, these agents may be used in blends of motor fuels containing substantial amounts of gum-forming cracked gasoline. In using the above mentioned compounds to retard gum formation in cracked gasolines, we prefer to add the inhibitor to fresh which normally tend to deteriorate and developgum, said product containing a small proportion of aminophenol wherein one amino hydrogen has been substituted by an iso-propyl radical, in quantity sufiicient to retard such gum formation.

3. The method of preserving cracked gasoline which normally tends to develop gums on storage, which comprises incorporating therein a small proportion of an aminophenol wherein one amino hydrogen has been substituted by a propyl radical.

4. The method of preserving cracked gasoline which normallytends to develop gums on storage, which comprises incorporating therein a small proportion of an aminophenol wherein one amino hydrogen has been substituted by an iso-propyl radical.

THOMAS H. ROGERS.

VANDERVZEER VOORHEES. 

